Snap and Print
by the Gadget Gals
I first heard of the Kodak EasyShare when a teacher who volunteers each year to take Santa pictures at her school's Christmas bazaar showed me how she was going to capture photos of Santa and the kids this year. Tired of fiddling with the old Polaroid, the teacher asked the school's tech person about using a digital camera for the 2003 shots. She was thinking that she could move a computer and printer into the Santa station to print photos for families.
The tech person suggested an alternative to her idea, "How about if we get you something where all you have to do is to take the pictures and put the camera into a small printing dock?" The teacher was delighted with the idea, and the new photo system was ordered. When it arrived, it was an immediate hit. The advertisements for the EasyShare were accurate. Beautiful 4"X6" photos came out with one click. Word got around what this device could do, and soon everyone wanted to use it for their projects. "You can't have it now," the tech person said over and over. "It's for Santa pictures. We'll see about using it for other ideas later," she told a number of disgruntled photographers.
It wasn't only teachers who were anxious to use EasyShare, parents who saw it were also very interested in what it could do and how much it cost. One parent (and perhaps more) left the tech office and went out and ordered one as soon as she got home.
Bottom line, this is a gadget that people understand. Those who haven't gotten into sending their digital photos to computers and printing them though computer printers, love this device, for it doesn't take any knowledge of computers. Computer people aren't immune to the charms and efficiency of the Kodak EasyShare either. It is, to be sure, a quick and efficient way to print photos without dashing off to the drug store photo center or going through the trouble of loading your shots into a computer. The EasyShare, however, can also be used to transfer photos to a computer so that they can be sent through email, used in slide shows and albums, edited, enlarged, and/or printed on a standard computer printer.
An EasyShare system includes a digital camera and a printing dock or camera dock. The teacher's Santa setup featured a Kodak DX6340 zoom digital camera, but a number of other cameras with different options are available at prices from approximately $150 to $400. The DX6340, for example, costs $279 and has a 4X zoom lens and prints in enough (3.1) megapixels (MP) to give very good quality resolution. In case you are not up on your megapixels, the more megapixels you have the better. EasyShare cameras range in megapixels from 2.0 to 4.0, and as you might guess, the more MP, the higher the camera cost.
The printing dock that works with the DX6340 camera is called Kodak EasyShare Printing Dock 6000 and costs $199.95. It will not only print your pictures with one click, but it also recharges your camera's batteries while the camera is in the dock. Borderless 4"X 6" photographs emerge from the printing dock in about 90 seconds. The dock uses the Kodak Color Cartridge and Paper Photo Kit to print its waterproof, high quality photos. The dock can also transfer photos to your computer or send them to your television for viewing.
For those who aren't interested in the printing dock, a Kodak EasyShare Camera Dock is also available for purchase. This dock, like the printing dock, will transfer photos to a computer, but it will not print the photos. The cost for the camera dock is $79.98.
Memory cards, travel kits, starter kits, camera cases, card readers, power options, and loads of other camera-related gear are available for the EasyShare cameras. For more information, check the Kodak site. - But if you are only in the market for a camera and printing system, all you'll need are an EasyShare camera, a printing dock, and the cartridge and paper kit.
It's time to snap, dock, print and go.
Product Information
Kodak EasyShare DX6340 Digital Zoom Camera
http://www.kodak.com
Works with dock or with Mac or PC Computers
$279
Kodak EasyShare Printer Dock 6000
http://www.rite2u.com
$199.95
Kodak EasyShare Camera Dock 6000
http:://www.rite2u.com
$79.98
Kodak Color Cartridge and Photo Paper Kit
http://www.kodak.com
$24.99
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